Tools for the Field
2020 FRAMEWORK FOR PROSECUTION & PUBLIC HEALTH
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| Author: Institute for Justice Research and Development
As the criminal justice system is often inappropriately used to address public health issues, the Prosecution Research Network was created to identify tangible course corrections as a framework for research and policy innovations led by prosecutors’ offices, in partnership with health care providers and stakeholders concerned with managing the health of our populations.
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COVID-19 Questionnaire for Correctional Populations (CQCP)
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| Author: Institute for Justice Research and Development
Access IJRD's COVID-19 Questionnaire for Correctional Populations (CQCP), a screening tool designed specifically for use with individuals who experienced incarceration or who released from incarceration and returned home during the pandemic.
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Data-driven policy recommendations to guide the future of policing and ensure effectiveness and equity across race, socioeconomic and behavioral health status
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| Author: Institute for Justice Research and Development
Carrie Pettus-Davis, Founding Executive Director of IJRD, recently participated in a Congressional Briefing on Social Work and the Future of Policing where she described tangible policy recommendations. Pettus-Davis's goal for the briefing was to identify the importance of evidence-driven solutions to police reform that prioritized racial and economic equity.
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How research at IJRD examines equity throughout the criminal justice system
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| Author: Institute for Justice Research and Development
Learn how our work at IJRD promotes racial and economic equity throughout the criminal justice system - from an individual's first contact with law enforcement to their return home from prison.
Category: Well-Being, racial and economic equity
Guideposts for the Era of Smart Decarceration
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| Author: Carrie Pettus-Davis, Matthew Epperson, Annie Grier
Despite the expansion of efforts to reduce jail and prison populations and reform criminal justice policy and practice, a comprehensive, inclusive, and actionable approach has been relatively absent from the conversation. Such an approach is only possible if criminal justice stakeholders agree upon the foundational objectives that can generate lasting decarceration. In this report, we offer guideposts and actionable strategies for the era of smart decarceration in America.
Category: Smart Decarceration
Deferred Prosecution Programs: An Implementation Guide
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| Author: Carrie Pettus-Davis, Matthew Epperson, Annie Grier, Megan Kraatz, Leon Sawh, Stephanie Kennedy
Deferred prosecution is one prosecutor-led diversion mechanism that has the potential to reduce criminal justice involvement and incarceration rates while maximizing public safety.
Category: Smart Decarceration, Diversion, Deferred Prosecution
Smart Decarceration Practice Behaviors for Social Work Competencies
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| Author: Phillipe Copeland, Daniel Jacob, Diane Young, Annie Grier, Stephanie Kennedy, Stephen Tripodi
This tool was conceived by a members of the “Promote Smart Decarceration” Grand Challenge Education Working Group to provide guidance for social work administrators, instructors, and students on how to effectively incorporate “smart decarceration” as a focus for social work education using the CSWE social work competencies.
This tool incorporates smart decarceration-related practice behaviors for ready application into both classroom curricula and field practicums.
Category: Grand Challenges, Smart Decarceration
Reverse Civic and Legal Exclusions for Persons with Criminal Charges and Convictions
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| Author: Carrie Pettus-Davis, Matthew Epperson, Annie Grier
Civil disability policies entangle persons with criminal convictions in a web of civic and legal exclusions
that revoke or restrict their rights and limit access to services needed for an individual’s successful
community reintegration. These policies—also known as collateral consequences—extend the reach of
criminal justice punishment long after contact with the formal system has ended. There are now an
estimated 40,000 civil disability policies nationwide—policies that affect the daily lives of individuals,
Category: Collateral Consequences of Incarceration, Smart Decarceration
The Economic Burden of Incarceration in the U.S.
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| Author: Michael McLaughlin, Carrie Pettus-Davis, Derek Brown, Christopher Veeh, Tanya Renn
This study estimates the annual economic burden of incarceration in the US. The $80 billion spent annually on corrections is frequently cited as the cost of incarceration, but this figure ignores important social costs including costs to incarcerated persons, families, children, and communities. This study draws on a burgeoning area of scholarship to assign monetary values to 23 different costs, which yield an aggregate burden of $1 Trillion.
Category: Cost of Incarceration
Policy Recommendations for Meeting the Grand Challenge to Promote Smart Decarceration
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| Author: Carrie Pettus-Davis, Matthew Epperson
What lies before us is a historic opportunity to promote smart decarceration by building social capacity to reduce incarceration rates in ways that are effective, sustainable, and socially just. To succeed, smart decarceration requires policy innovations that substantially reduce the use of incarceration, redress existing disparities in the criminal justice system, and maximize public safety and well-being.
Category: Grand Challenges, Smart Decarceration
From Mass Incarceration to Smart Decarceration
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| Author: Carrie Pettus-Davis, Matthew Epperson
The Grand Challenges for Social Work are designed to focus a world of thought and action on the most compelling and critical social issues of our day. Each grand challenge is a broad but discrete concept where social work expertise and leadership can be brought to bear on bold new ideas, scientific exploration and surprising innovations.
Category: Grand Challenges, Smart Decarceration
From Mass Incarceration to Smart Decarceration
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| Author: Carrie Pettus-Davis, Matthew Epperson
Through decarceration, the lives of millions of people can be vastly improved, and the nation as a whole can leave behind this short-sighted and shameful period of mass incarceration. But how will this be accomplished, and by whom? Seldom before in the nation’s history has the need for applied social innovation been more urgent.
Category: Smart Decarceration
Smart Decarceration: Guiding Concepts for an Era of Criminal Justice Transformation
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| Author: Carrie Pettus-Davis, Matthew Epperson
The era of mass incarceration, which made the United States the world’s leading jailer, appears to be coming to an end. What is likely to follow is an era of decarceration, aimed at reducing the incarcerated population. In this working paper, we discuss the problems associated with mass incarceration and the current climate that is likely to make decarceration a reality. We discuss the importance of developing a “smart decarceration” approach—one that is effective, sustainable, and socially just.